Rhenium 188 Practicality.

  

 Practicality of Rhenium 188

   At the moment a price cannot be placed on Rhenium 188 because it is still in clinical trials. Testing facilities are needed to help with this process. Places like Columbia University and Cedar Sinai Medical Center are testing rhenium 188 now. Rhenium 188 is under Good Manufacturing Processes, which means everything is being handled and done safely. The beta particles of Rhenium 188 come from the Rhenium 188/Tungsten 188 generators. Rhenium 188 only has a half life of about 16.9 hours, so there is not much of a worry that there will be nuclear energy just sitting around.

How Rhenium 188 Works...

 

How Rhenium 188 Works...

      Rhenium 188 is a radioisotope that helps get rid of cancerous tumors. This picture shows a patient going through the process of radiotherapy. Rhenium 188 works through a injection or through a paste. The injection is placed right at the place of the tumor. The process of using the paste, is you place surgical foil around the area of the tumor, and then spread the paste on the foil. This is left on for 2 hours and is commonly done of on the face, because it does not leave the ugly scars. This method is primarily used for skin cancer (except for melanoma). This method has been tested on 700 patients in Italy, it is still being tested on mice in the U.S .This is mainly because the Italians came up with the idea of a Rhenium 188 paste.

    Rhenium 188 is currently being test on several types of cancer and other serious problems which include: metastatic bone cancer, non-resectable liver cancer, non-melanoma skin cancer, treatment of arthritis, inhibition of arterial restenosis (following balloon angioplasty).

Rhenium-188 Stats

Does Rhenium 188 Work?

    Rhenium 188 is still in the process of being test, but it has a strong chance of working. Rhenium 188 emits high energy beta particles, this kills the cancer cell. When anything receives too much energy it gets destroyed. In the diagram above is a leukemia cell. On the top-right shows the beta particles, and on the top-left shows the death receptor increasing which will kill the cell. 

Statistics for Rhenium 188

-61 patients were tested (bone metastases)
   -percentage of people that received relief

• Lung Cancer- 77%
• Prostate Cancer- 80%
• Breast Cancer- 83%
• Bladder Cancer- 100%
• Renal Cancer- 50%
• Rhinopharyngeal- 50%
• Other Tumor Types- 87%

     Rhenium treatments go by a basic 12 month period. After the first treatment patients have to get treatments every weekly for two months. From months 3-12 the patients have to go monthly. This helped relieve pain from the various cancers.